McCANNS TELL OF HEARTBREAK 10 YEARS ON
Woman the key suspect, say cops
KATE McCann has vowed to do “whatever it takes for as long as it takes” to find daughter Maddie.
The former GP and husband Gerry poured out their hearts in an interview to mark a decade since their girl disappeared.
Kate said: “My hope for Madeleine being out there is no less than it was almost 10 years ago.”
The mum, who now has a new job in another area of medicine, said her career and looking after twins Sean and Amelie, 12, has helped her rebuild as normal a life as possible.
But she insisted “the trauma and upset” does not diminish, saying: “We never thought we’d be in this situation so far along the line.”
Kate, 49, refers to Wednesday May 3 – the day Maddie vanished – as “a horrible marker of stolen time”.
Gerry, 48, a heart doctor, said it was “devastating” not to have found his daughter.
But he insisted: “We’re still looking forward, I think that’s the most important thing. We still hope.”
Kate said the family stayed busy as a way of coping and admitted: “Sometimes it’s almost a little bit too frenetic but it keeps us going.”
The couple from Rothley, Leics, told how they are kept optimistic by the “real progress” Scotland Yard is making in the hunt for their daughter.
The Met Police said this week they were still pursuing “critical” leads to trace possible kidnappers.
Three-year-old Maddie vanished from a holiday apartment in Portugal’s Praia da Luz in May 2007 while her parents were dining with pals in a nearby tapas restaurant. She would now be nearly 14.
Kate said: “We just have to go with the process and follow it through, whatever it takes, for as long as it takes. There is still hope that we can find Madeleine.”
Kate and Gerry were convinced they had located her in Morocco shortly after she disappeared and even had a plane on standby to pick her TRACEY KANDOHLA up. It was one of many times they have had their hopes raised over the years only to be dashed.
But Kate said: “Ultimately, you have to keep going, especially when you have got other children involved.”
In a BBC TV interview with Fiona Bruce to be screened today, she added: “People say you don’t realise how strong you are until you have no option and I think that’s very true.”
The McCanns announced they will continue their libel battle against former Portuguese police chief Goncalo Amaral, whose “malicious and false” accusations they believe are hampering the search.
They intend to go to the European Court of Human Rights to challenge a ruling which cleared Mr Amaral of breaching defamation laws. He claimed in his 2008 book The Truth of the Lie that Maddie accidentally died and her parents hid the body.
But Gerry pointed out Scotland Yard’s Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley had said again “there is no evidence that Madeleine is dead and the prosecutor has said there’s no evidence we were involved in any crime”.
Maddie’s parents have been shocked by online abuse and urged people to think twice about posting cruel remarks for the sake of their twins.
Gerry said: “We have told them that people are writing things that are simply just untrue and they need to be aware of that.” He added: “I think we’ve seen the worst and the best of human nature.”
Kate still buys birthday and Christmas presents for Maddie, hoping one day she will open them.
She said: “I think about what age she is and that, whenever we find her, will it still be appropriate, so there’s a lot of thought goes into it.” She said she “couldn’t not” buy presents, adding: “She’s still our daughter, she’ll always be our daugh
ter.” SCOTLAND Yard’s key suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is a woman.
The hunt for the female, who was seen near where she went missing, is the critical lead in the investigation. It has been described as “a hugely significant line of inquiry”. Sources revealed that police are poised to question the woman – who is not currently living in Portugal – over her whereabouts when Maddie vanished. An insider said: “Detectives have scoured Europe looking for this woman who is thought to hold the key to solving the entire case. “After months of tireless police work they will soon be in a position to move in and finally get some answers after a decade of dead-ends.
“It is a hugely significant line of inquiry that officers hope could lead to an arrest.” Last month we revealed police had identified a person they wanted to question after being given an extra £85,000 funding. Met Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said last week that police still hoped they could provide answers.
The Scotland Yard chief said there were still “critical” leads that were of “great interest” to the investigation. He ruled out wild suggestions that Maddie’s parents Gerry and Kate McCann were involved in her disappearance. But he said the possibility the mystery was sparked by a “burglary gone wrong” was a “sensible hypothesis” which had not been “entirely ruled out”. He said: “I know we have a significant line of inquiry which is worth pursuing, and because it’s worth pursuing it could provide an answer. But until we’ve gone through it I won’t know whether we are going to get there or not.”